urban identity and iconic buildings

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Membres du jury Mlle. Imane BenkiraneMr. Abdessamad SekkalMr. Hassan KharmichMr. Adil Sadik

Fait par

Afrad AbdellahEncadr parMr. Larbi Bouayad

Ecole Na onale d Architecture2011-2012

URBAN IDENT &

ICONIC BUILDI


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Acknowledgement

Thank you to everyone who made this work possible.Thank you to my friend, teacher and supervisor Dr. Larbi Bouayad.Thank you to all members of the jury: our very friendly and helpfulteachers and friends, Miss Imane Benkirane, Mr. Abdessamad Sekkal,Mr. Hassan Kharmich and Mr. Adil Sadik. Great thank you, full of tenderness and love to my father and mymother my two suns, the women in my life my soeures Fatim, Naimaand Mina, and my two favorite brothers Mohamad and Brahim.Big thank you to all my friends Long live the friendship :) Big thank

you to all the staff of the school and all the people I met along mycourse of study in the ENA or elsewhere.


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Introduc on 10I. URBAN IDENTITY

1. De ni on .......................................................................................... 2. Urban image ......................................................................................3. Urban iden ty and its components...................................................

1.1 According LYNCHa. Paths ................................................................................... b. Edges .................................................................................. c. Districts............................................................................... d. Nodes ................................................................................. e. Landmarks..........................................................................

. According Ledrut....................................................................... a. Living centrality.....................................................................b. Dead centrality......................................................................

4. Urban iden ty and contemporary challenges ...................................4.1 Urban iden ty and globaliza on................................................. Civiliza onal iden ty and globaliza on ....................................... Urban iden ty as publicity .........................................................

II. THE ICONIC BUILDING 1. Genesis .......................................................................................................... Iconic buildings Speci ci es .........................................................................

a. The concept....................................................................................b. Materializa on of the concept.......................................................c. Integra on ....................................................................................d. The signi cance..............................................................................

. Conteporary architecture and iconic buildings...............................................4. The ac ve forces in the materialisa on of iconic buildings ............................

a. The client..........................................................................................b. The architecte..................................................................................c. A society or a community?..............................................................

SYNTHESIS......................................................................................

Summary

RELATION BETWEEN URBANIDENTITY ANDICONIC BUILDINGS1


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Introduc on ......................................................................... 40

I. OVERVIEW OF THE PRITZKER ARCHITECTS

1. Cartography of starchitects export.....................................................

. Cartography analysis...........................................................................

II. CASE STUDY............................................................................................1. UTZON and the Sydney Opera House ................................................

a. A unique architect ..........................................................................b. The Sydney Opera House............................................................... c. Architectural concept......................................................................d. Recep on.......................................................................................

e. Synthesis ........................................................................................2. Gehry and the Guggenheim Museum ...............................................

a. An architect in the PICASSO way.....................................................b. The Guggenheim museum .............................................................c. Architectural concept ....................................................................d. Reception.......................................................................................e. Synthesis .......................................................................................

3. Renzo PIANO et le centre culturel jean marie TJIBAOU.....................a. The poet architect ......................................................................... b. The Jean-Marie TJIBAOU cultural center.........................................c. Recep on.......................................................................................d. Synthesis.........................................................................................

GENERAL SYNTHESIS...................................................................

2RELATION BETWEEN ICONICBUILDINGS AND URBAN IDENTITY


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3 THE CITY OF AGADIR La ville dAgadir

Introcuc on ..............................................................................I. AGADIR BEFORE AND AFTER ITS MEMORY LOSS....................................

1. Agadirs historical context........................................................................a. Agadir Before the Protectorate.............................................b. Agadir During the protectorate..............................................c. The reconstruc on or the beginning of amnesia..................

. Problema c of the contemporary context.............................................

II. VOCATION OF THE PROJECT AND SELECTION OF THE SITE...................1. Voca on of the projet ......................................................................... Selec on of the site............................................................................


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4 THE PROJECTI. SITE ANALYSIS...................................................................................... 102

II. DIAGRAMS............................................................................................. 108

III. DOCUMENTS TECHNIQUES ................................................................. 131

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A building becomes iconic when its form is simpleand unique. If you can draw a building with a fewsweeps of the pen and everyone recognises not onlythe structure but also associates it with a place onearth, you have gone a long way towards creatingsomething iconic 1

Tom WRIGHT

It was with this explana on that Tom Wright jus ed his concep on

of Bordj Al-Arab, his most famous achievement, built in Dubai, United ArabEmirates. The de ni on provided here by the architect to iconic buildingsresults from a purely formal percep on of these buildings, but it enlightensus about their raison dtre which is to become a part of some wheresperceived iden ty.Iconic buildings are not a modern inven on, they exist since man learnedto build and live in community. These buildings used to born from dis nctand clear contexts. From Their contextual di erences arose formal andtechnical diversity in the construc on methods in the di erent civiliza ons.The Egyp an pyramid, for example, di ers from that of the Maya, howeverboth are the icons of their respec ve civiliza ons in what makes its iden ty:

religious beliefs, poli cal system, tradi ons, etc...

Today this is no longer the case; globaliza on has caused that allaround the world we build in the the same cultural model. From mirrors ofsocietal iden es, iconic buildings become simple merchandises importedand exported, sold to those who can buy, investments that need to bepro table, and for this purpose are stripped of their meanings.

This observa on is alarming and consequently, increasing lanesrises to denounce this rupture. Indeed, the climate of uniformiza on haslegi mized for some ci es wishing to keep their urban and architecturaloriginali es, the willingness to dip into their historical references. However,contemporary percep on of architecture of yesteryear is o en super cial;consequently the a empts to use it as a reference usually end by pas che.

Thus, the objec ve of this work is to de ne a conceptual approach todesign iconic, contextualized and valued projects. However, a major ques onchallenges us :

What is the rela on between urban iden ty and iconic architecture?

1

Tom WRIGHT ( ), extracted from the documentary Superstructure star hotel,Discovery Chanel.

Introduction

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This ques on requires number of other ques ons in our study, whose aim is

to reach, through its theore cal nature, the qualita ve informa on.

At rst a re ec on in the concepts is needed to fully explore our topic

What is iden ty?

How is it manifested in a city?

Do we need it? Why?

What are its components?

The answers to these ques ons requires other concepts, which imposeaddi onal ques ons concerning the no on of iconic buildings :

What is an iconic building?

What are the elements that de ne it?

What are the elements that dis nguish it from other types ofbuildings?

Accordingly, we will proceed to the study of prac cal examples of theinterac on between iconic buildings and urban iden ty in di erent situa onsin the contemporary context. We nally pass to the study of the city of Agadir,in its rela on to our topic.

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RELATION BETWEENURBAN IDENTITY AND

ICONIC BUILDINGS

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter we will rst try todetermine the exis ng interac onrela ons between the iden ty of a city andits iconic buildings. For this purpose, we

will highlight the concept of urban iden ty,its de ni on, its meaning, its spa alcomponents, the ac ng forces involvedin its crystalliza on, its importance andnally its rela onship with the iconicbuilding. Then we will discuss the iconicbuilding, its history, its de ning elements,and its rela onship with urban iden ty.

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This de ni on can be truly understood onlythrough the explana on of the two terms,namely the mental image we call in the eld ofurban space image and speci c characters aspart of the urban iden ty. We will discuss theseconcepts basing on the work of Kevin Lynch inhis book The image of the city 1 .

2. Urban image

Architect, Lynch is considered a pioneerin the study of the urban image, being therst to write about this subject. He gives ofit the following de ni on: The image of anenvironment is the result of an opera on backand forth between the observer and the milieu,the environment suggests dis nc ons andrela ons and the observer selects, organizes andcharges of meaning what he sees, dependingin his level of adaptability and according to hisobjec ves, the image set limit and ampli eswhat is seen .

Lynchs book deals exclusively withthe formal collec ve image of the city, or tofollow our re ec on, its corporeal iden ty,which he said was the result of shared mentalrepresenta ons of large numbers of inhabitantsof city, areas of agreement that can be expectedto appear without the interac on of the samephysical reality of a common culture or similarphysiological nature. . His study based onformal analysis of three U.S. ci es: Boston, LosAngeles and Jersey City allowed him to de ne anew concept, the imageability:

For a physical object it is the quality, thanksto which it is very likely to cause a strong imagein any observer. It is this form, this color, ordisposition that facilitates the mental imaging ofthe environment strongly identified, powerfullystructured and very useful. (...). A regular and

1Raymond LEDRUT, Les images de la ville , Anthropos.Paris, .Kevin LYNCH, op cit. P : 7, muta s mutandis.

responsive observer could receive new sensoryshocks without them breaking most of his image,and each new impact is repercuting in a largenumber of existing elements in the image

LLynch believes that the observer wouldbe well oriented and easily by accentua ngspaces imageability in the city. By that, theindividuals would acquire a deeper awarenessof their environment and possess a be er imageof it, which will generate a greater sense of

emo onal security. They may therefore establisha harmonious rela onship with the world thatsurrounds them.

The French sociologist LEDRUT,whereas favored the no on of urban experiencein the construc on of the image, it was thereforeimportant to follow the sociological variablesdis nguishing the inhabitants of the centerand those of the periphery, genre, age, socio-professional categories and the inac ve people.

For him, the image of a given city deals whetheror not it has a symbolic unity. Thus, the imagealways has an emo onal resonance. It triggersan emo on and expresses a global report fromman to city, which is personi ed in this way,the city becomes a person, and the emo onalrela onship o en takes a maternal coloring.LEDRUT nds a clear di erence in the percep onof iden ty and structure between Europeanand American subjects. According to him, this isprobably because of the existence of a historicalcenter in European ci es, the monument is thepreferred landmark to city dwellers, but it is notthe history of the monuments that mobilizesthe city but much more widely seniority. Thepersonality of the city is de ned for most of itsinhabitants by its ancient or quali ed as suchmonuments.

LYNCH and LEDRUT studied the image of thecity only from the physical and material point ofview; they were interested with its body ignoring

Kevin LYNCH, op cit. P : 11


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its soul that is just as important if not more inde ning its iden ty.

Image forma on :

Considering that the city is composedof a duality of moments: its concep on and itspercep on. These two points intersect, since allci es are designed in a certain percep on of theCITY, and that city produces the society at leastas much as the society produces city. We will beinterested here only at the me of percep on,since the design of ci es is the jealously guardedprivilege of a minority of architects and decisionmakers.

According to Bri sh philosopher, J. L.

AUSTIN ( ): any perception would bean internal phenomenon commonly calledsensitivity, perception would be as a cognitiveact to access the understanding of a world thatwe would interpret as our identity 1Accordingto this thesis. Perception is, therefore, aknowledge-led, by which the individual wouldknow what motivates him and seems real inorder to establish his personal mental image of it.But is it true that we control our perceptions orrather the feelings that a space inspire us?

The Swiss epistemologist Jean Piaget sayson this subject : There is space representa on

from the moment the symbolic func on appears,in other words when signi ers di eren atesas image-symbols or signs, the conceivedarchitecture would be a reconceived architecture

from its physical reali es and the psyche of the person who experiences on it the ac vity of percep on .

The word psyche means to Piaget, knowledge ofthe individual, his iden ty, his memory and hispowers of recall, interpreta on and evalua on,which he seems to share only with those ofthe collec ve memory to which he belongs.Memory plays therefore an important rolein urban percep on, it s mulates it because

1J. L. AUSTIN cit dans : Caroline LECOURTOIS, Perceptionarchitecturale et image urbaine, le cas de Caen , ColloqueInterna onal Images et citadinit . Alger, Novembre

. P : , Muta s mutandis.Jean PIAGET cit dans : Caroline LECOURTOIS, Perceptionarchitecturale et image urbaine, le cas de Caen , ColloqueInterna onal Images et citadinit . Alger, Novembre

. P : .

percep on is also a kind of evalua on by whichthe individual try to interpret and redesign theExis ng rela vely to what he knows and what hehas experienced; his memories. In architecture,buildings, monuments or areas recognizedas carriers of some memories, , are commonheritage, because they represent the physicalmaterializa on of memories, people, or eventswhich they celebrate. This selec on leads tothink that its inclusion in a collec ve memorypar cipate in the crea on of a heritage-of thearchitectural or urban seen, is imposing this asa re ec on of urban iden ty. This assortmentleads to think that its inclusion in a collec vememory par cipates of a patrimonialisa onof the perceived architectural or urban space,imposing its self as a re ec on of urban iden ty.

The rela onship forged by individuals inthe West between the physical proper es of areal space and its symbolic meanings thus showthe importance of its socio-cultural inscrip ons,which can only be based on a collec ve memory.The Italian architect and theorist Aldo Rossisaid: The city itself is the collec ve memory ofpeoples, and as the memory is linked to eventsand places, the city is the locus of collec vememory 3. This suggests that for any given

city, there is a collec ve image which is theenvelope of a series of collec ve images, eachcorresponding to a large group of ci zens whoin turn have their own individual percep on ofthe city. There is only one village in a village butan in nity of ci es within a city. Each personalrepresenta on is unique, some of its content israrely or never communicated, yet they all joininto the collec ve image .

It is therefore clear that generally ade ned community that shares values, beliefsand collec ve memory, maintains a specialrela onship with its historic monuments andurban space, it creates a dis nct image that di ersfrom the image a foreign person, although themonuments and urban space are physically thesame for everyone. What makes the di erenceare the values, beliefs, and collec ve memory.But to know by heart the story or religion of acommunity is not enough to perceive its spacein the same way, a cathedral for example isntperceived in the same way by a Chris an believer

ROSSI Aldo, Larchitecture de la ville, ed. lEquerre, Paris,.


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and another non-believer, to get the samepercep on one must adopt the same values andbeliefs , so the di erence in percep on here liesin a spiritual level.

It is therefore established that a personforms a mental picture of the city, star ng withthe physical image composed of various elementsof the urban space, thanks to his knowledge,iden ty, memories and his capacity for recall,recogni on, interpreta on and evalua on.Construc ng, with this cogni ve e ort, anurban world from his references and building hisown symbolic city. Therefore a person forges arepresenta on of the city; he shares only withthose with whom he shares a collec ve memory,even if the urban space and its components are

physically the same. It is consequently importantto know these components to be er understandthis.

3. Urban identity and its components

The components that cons tute theiden ty of a city can be divided into physicalsubstan al and intangible non-physical. Theseelements are the raw materials of the imageand iden ty of the city. They can resonate and

amplify the power of each other, or con ict anddestroy each other. The essence of immaterialiden ty of a city revolves around its people,its religion, its culture, its values, its tradi ons,its moods, its prac ces of space, its socialsigni cance, its func on, its history or even hisname.

for example the Muslim urban space,the organiza on type of the medina is derivedfrom the principles of the Islamic religion,source of guidance concerning the unifyingdoctrines revealed giving the basics of ac onwhatsoever including qualita ve moral concepts,and principles of iden ty in its suprahumanreference. Compliance with these guidelinesis not necessarily a restric on on a formal andprecise and de ned aesthe c model, its purposeis to guide the design of a Muslim space valuedin accordance with the cultural characteris cs ofits inhabitants.

EConcerning the material components ofurban iden ty we will once again will base onthe two works of LYNCH and LEDRUT.

. According LYNCH 1 :

The components of the formal iden tyof a city can be classi ed according ve types ofcomponents :

a. Paths: routes along which peoplemove throughout the city. the imageof some channels is enhanced bycertain spa al characteris cs such ashow they are presented to the viewer,or the view they o er. dis nct andclear paths have a stronger iden ty.

a. Edges: boundaries and breaks incon nuity.

b. Districts : large parts of a citycharacterized by commoncharacteristics for example textures,space, shape, symbols, types ofconstruction, placement, type ofactivity, inhabitants, degree ofmaintenance, topography, etc.The resulting thematic unity ischaracterized by the contrast withrest of the city that can immediatelyrecognize.

c. Nodes : focal and strategic points ofa city. The mee ng point of routes orconcentra on of certain func ons orcertain physical characteris cs, largesquares, linear extensive forms, oren re central neighborhoods or evenen re towns. Elements placed in afocal point automa cally becomesigni cant because of their loca on.Nodes can be important even if theirappearance is formless and elusive,but where space has a clear andcomprehensible form, the impactis much greater, the node becomesunforge able. The perceived imagecannot stand too many nodal centers.It seems the most successful nodeis the most dis nc ve, or the onethat is intensifying a feature of itssurrounding environment.

1Kevin LYNCH, op cit. Troisime chapitre, muta s mutan-dis.


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g 1Elements of a citys image


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d. Landmarks: physical elementswhose scale is variable within widelimits, they serve as guides thanksto their uniqueness and physicalsingularity appearance by which theystand out from the context; theseare the iconic buildings. Having apredominant spa al posi on makeselements landmarks by two ways:either by making elements visiblefrom di erent angles, or crea ng acontrast with adjacent componentslike a varia on in alignment or height.Its also possible for an element tobecome a landmark when a story avalue or a sign is a ached to it.

These elements can change interpreta on: ahighway can be a path for the car driver and anedge for the pedestrian, an area in the centercan be a District in a small town, and a nodewhen considering the en re metropolitan area.

In his book, LYNCH focused onarchitectural landmark since that they hold thegreatest signi cance and their image includesthose of other cited components.

. According LEDRUT 1 :

Having studied the city centers, privilegedplace of crystalliza on and exhibi on of urbaniden ty, LEDRUT dis nguishes two centralitytypes exhibi ng two dis nct iden es:

a. Lliving centrality : corresponding tothe commercial and administrativebusiness center, dominated by thespectacle of the goods, and thatLEDRUT qualifies of full city..

b. Dead centrality : orresponding tothe historic center, witch possessesa deep symbolic but not connectedwith the contemporary history.Nevertheless, it is seen as a mustsee place in every city being the areathat gives much information aboutits identity. This dichotomy showsthat urban symbolism is built in anabstract and outdated registry while

1Raymond LEDRUT, op cit. Muta s mutandis

the economic and social activitytakes place in another concrete andpractical registry. For LEDRUT thisphenomenon of urban alienation cutsoff the individuals urban experiencefrom its symbolic elaboration. Todaythe historic center, by the very factof its symbolic power, has become afavorite site of cultural reaction andinteraction. The historical value ofthe frame is a secure element whichshows that urban spaces longevity ismuch higher than humans: We aremortal but Rome is eternal.

The percep on of tangible and intangibleelements that make up the iden ty of a city

leads to conceive an image that is supposed tobe dis nct, but can we s ll speak of singularity inthis climate of globaliza on?

4. Urban identity and contemporary challen

Words like na on, civiliza on, culture,iden ty did, even in Europe, birthplace ofmodernism and globalism, a comeback in thepoli cal vocabulary, especially in recent years.Such meanings reac vate interroga ons of socio-

poli cal and philosophical aspects. Nevertheless,the discourse on the protec on of na onal orciviliza onal cultural iden ty is not new. Whyinsist on the promo on and enhancement ofurban iden ty?

4.1 Urban iden ty and globaliza on :

The promo on and development ofurban iden ty have become a necessity, rst,because few ac ons are able to achieve thestrategic economic objec ves in the absenceof a clear iden ty strategy. Then, because thedevelopment and compe veness of an urbanspace, is based on its ability to highlight its iden tyand speci c characteris cs. Finally, because thefeeling of belonging to a neighborhood, a city,a region or a na on is a natural need of theindividual who cant live in the deracina on .

Iden ty is a human leitmo v, encouragingthinking, ac on and abandoning private interestsfor communitys interests, in its rela on withurban space, collec ve appropria on of landis the way it translates its self. There isnt a


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stable and one-dimensional iden ty; it is byessence dynamic and hybrid. Thats why urban

iden ty occupies an important place in thecurrent debate on globaliza on witch is forsome, the abominable monster responsiblefor the misfortunes of the world, but what isglobaliza on ?

Le Pe t Robert says 1 :

Globalisa on (n.f. ) : the process enabling nancial and investment markets to operateinterna onally,largely as a result of deregula onand improved communica ons, tradeliberaliza on, leading to an interdependenceof countries . Globaliza on is a phenomenon,it has a reason, ini ators, it is the result of anac on, a desire: globalism..

Mondialisme (n.m. ) : Universalism; thea tude or policy of placing the interests of theen re world above those of individual na ons.By cons tu ng poli cal unity for humanity .

1French de ni ons were translated into english byus.

Therefore, globaliza on is a phenomenontrying to universalize humanity in all its aspects

including culture, architecture, urbanism, etc...Architecture is the rst human tool, the rstinstrument that enables mankind to detachfrom nature. It carries u lity func on, butalso symbolic values, representa ve of whatcons tutes human culture; the Civiliza on.

4.2 Civiliza onal iden ty andglobaliza on:

IBN KHALDOUN argues that: city andciviliza on were synonymous concepts to such adegree in history, that destroy a city has alwaysseemed the best way to destroy the civiliza onof which it is a sort of archetype. Thus, itappears useful to de ne the term civiliza on tobe er clarify the issue of globaliza on :

In ancient sense, close to culture, civili-za on means all speci c characteris csof a society; area, people, and na on, inall areas: religious, social, moral, poli cal,ar s c, intellectual, scien c, technical,etc... The components of civiliza on are

Fig 2 Ruins of Persepolis, Iran. The capital of the empire was destroyed by Alexander the Great to signal his victory over the Persiancivilization, as was destroyed by Rome Cartage.


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transmi ed from genera on to genera-on through educa on. In this approach

of humanitys history, there is no value judgment. The meaning is then close toculture 1.

In a more modern sense, the termciviliza on refers to the progress ofliving condi ons, knowledge andstandards of behaviour or manners(called civilized) of a society. Civiliza onwhich, in this signi ca on, is used inthe singular, introduced the no ons ofprogress and improvement to a universalideal generated, among other things,from knowledge, science, technology.Civiliza on is the situa on reached by agiven society, as opposed to barbarism,savagery.

1In the French dic onary of Trvoux du th century , itsays that the term civiliza on is used to ... sociability ...Religion is unques onably the rst and most useful brakehumanity: the rst instance of civiliza on. It preachesus, and constantly remind the brotherhood, so ens ourheart.D ni on of civilisa on in : h p://www.toupie.org/Dict

ionnaire/Civilisa on.htm

Unlike the rst sense of the term civiliza on,which carries no value judgments, the second

meaning is established in a grid of judgmentsfor di erent civiliza ons, based on the criteriade ned from a universal model, the Westernmodel considered as the evalua on model.

the concept de ned by the term civiliza on,shouldnt be based on the superiority of a race,predisposed to progress while others can only stayin a sta c primi ve level. It is this racist view ofciviliza on, common in the West un l the middleof the th century even in the o cial discourse,that Spenger Oswald cri cized in his famous bookThe Decline of the West :

It is self-evident that for the Cultures of the Westthe existence of Athens, Florence or Paris is moreimportant than that of Lo-Yang or Pataliputra.But Is it permissible to found a scheme of worldhistory on estimates of such a sort?

In its universal dimension, Westernglobaliza on ignores the di erent cultures that

SPENGER, Oswald.Le Dclin de lOccident . Gallimard,, Paris. p. . Translated into english by us.

Fig 3 Globalization in its current form bene ts some countries over others .
http://www.toupie.org/Dictionnaire/Culture.htmhttp://www.toupie.org/Dictionnaire/Culture.htm


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contains the humanity and seeks to destroy asJean BAUDRILLARD says:

For the world powers, just as fundamentalist asthe religious orthodoxy, all di erent and uniqueshapes are heresies. As such, they are des nedeither to return by force in the world order, or todisappear. The mission of the West is to submitby all means mul ple cultures to the erce lawof equivalence. A culture that has lost its valuescan only take revenge on those of others 1.

It is, therefore, an a empt to create a culturallyunited world, on the Western model consideredthe most advanced and most suitable. A large-scale cultural evolu on towards a Westerniza onof the world, to the adop on of a cultural and

therefore architectural model which ignores thespa al characteris cs of each people.

Edward T. Hall describes in his bookThe Hidden Dimension taking these spa alcharacteris cs for example, proxemic di erencesbetween the Japanese and the Europeans, thevarious reports that each other show towardwalls, boundaries, and where the disposi on offurniture results from di erent tac le and sensoryreports. Two culturally di erent communi es

live in two dis nct universes, therefor the ideaof universality can only be considered insideone society. The Chinese universe is not the

American universe, nor the Muslim universe,etc... And inside the same country there maybe large di erences among di erent culturescomposing its na onal iden ty. The elabora onof architecture in a speci c culture is accordingits peoples percep on of space and accordingtheir people. 2

Globaliza on and iden ty are, from theirrespec ve de ni ons, concepts that work inopposite direc ons, but at the same me cannotbe ignored, because in the current environment,

1COLLECTIF. Altermondialistes de tous les pays . Le

Monde diploma que, Manire de voir n , juin-juillet.Pierre COMBARNOUS, Architecture et

altermondialisation , Ed lHarma an. P : , Muta smutandis.

where the world has become a small village,di erent cultures civiliza ons, technologies,problems of our world, etc.. Belong andrelate to all of humanity. This contemporarycircumstances can be considered as a formof globaliza on, and at the same me, a newconcept of iden ty; a global and mutual iden tyto all mankind, which is an inseparable partof each communitys iden ty. From this pointof view, urban iden es represent a legacy topreserve and at the same me to share andupdate with support from the rest of humanity.At this point in the re ec on, it should be notedthat to withdraw in ones exclusive iden ty isunthinkable in this era where globaliza on isthe inevitable major challenge of this century.At the same me, the assimila on of the others

dominant culture, is intolerable because nona on is ready to abandon its essen al valuesand culture on their awn free will

4.3 Urban iden ty as publicity:

A veritable market of ci es has appeared, visibleat di erent scales from local to interna onallevel, and in this context, the a rac ve orrepulsive image of a city some mes becomesa double-edged sword in territorial marke ng

or townbranding. Policies promo ng territoryimage started to base its ac on in star projects,highligh ng the most visible areas on the urbanscale. It is thus, in most cases, public space orbuildings meant to become visual landmarks inthe city and simultaneously icons adver singand represen ng urban image, at least visually,for its inhabitants as for people from other ci esor other countries, but these iconic buildings,do they really re ect the urban iden ty of theci es in which they appear, or are they just anadver sement designed to a ract tourists andinvestment?


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Fig 4 The world has become a global village, but what identity for this village?


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II. THE ICONIC BUILDINGSaid too, monumental building, starchitecture, postcard buildings or show building, an iconic buildingis supposed to be a symbol, or a kind of graphic shortcut visually in rela on with what it symbolizes. Itcreates a virtual and condensed image of it; so it is here all about percep on and symbolism, but isntit true that all architecture is symbolic? What di eren ates buildings considered iconic of the average?What is the source of their power?

1. Genesis

Perhaps that the most famous exampleof the power that a single building can have onthe percep on and the fortunes of an en re city,is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.Built in the early s by Frank Gehry, in a citythat was struggling to get out of its problems,the building was built as part of a regenera onprogram in which he was to be the icing on thecake, it was such a success that the impact ithad on the city was called the Bilbao e ect. Thebuilding, alone costed $ million, it hosts one

million visitors a year, has contributed so farto the tune of two billion euros in the SpanishBasque Countrys economy and generated, jobs 1. In an interview published in the

book of Charles Jencks the iconic building,Gehry said: . .. from Bilbao, we began to call meto make Frank Gehrys buildings thats whatthey tell me, we want a Frank Gehry building, it

1Source Wikipedia : Guggenheim museum Bilbao.h p://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C %A e_Guggenheim_(Bilbao)

Fig 5 Stonhenge, England.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_Guggenheim_(Bilbao)http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_Guggenheim_(Bilbao)http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_Guggenheim_(Bilbao)http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_Guggenheim_(Bilbao)


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really created a lot of problems when I come upwith a concep on and was told Oh! ... Well, thisis not a Gehry! 1

This shows the connec on between theiconic building and starchitect commissioned todo the design. Economist Robert. P. Inman statesthat it is the combina on of excep onal design,the starchitect and the interest shown by thepublic through the media coverage that makesa successful iconic buildings, and the a rac onthey have on clients looking for nancial gain orlarge-scale world-renowned, saying that iconicbuildings will always be popular shortcuts toreinvigorate a city as long as their media cove-rage will be ensured.

1Charles JENCKS The iconic building : the power ofenigma . Frances LINCOLN, London, . p : 9 .

Frank Gehry is certainly not the rst to havehad this approach toward iconic buildings. Itis obvious that the inten on to create massiveand symbolic structures is not new, and theremains of buildings belonging to the neo-Paleolithic period, such as Stonehenge proves it,as MUMFORD Lewis says in his book the City inhistory: The glori ca on of power is expressedthrough representa ons also dispropor onate,coming from deep within the subconscious andset by the art styles and its unalterable models . The architecture is of course one of theseInvariant models, which served to the e ec veglori ca on of power, and maybe the story ofthe pyramids is the best example for that success.

Lewis MUMFORD. La Cit travers lhistoire . Seuil,Paris. p. . Translated into english by us.

Fig 6 Pyramid of Djoser


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The rst pyramid was built in Egypt duringthe reign of King Djoser in the year - , by hisvizier and architect Imhotep. It was part of thelargest funerary complex ever built in Egypt, andwas intended to represent the grandeur, powerand divine sonship of the king, for eternity.The rst pyramid may not be be the biggest orthe most elegant one, but it has inspired theconstruc on of all those that followed, includingthe Pyramid of Khufu, the most majes c andwonderful of the seven wonders of the ancientworld. Thanks, therefore, to its ingenuity andinnova on, Imhotep invented a form that hasbecome a symbol not only of the power of thekings of Egypt, but also of an en re civiliza onand that for the whole world. He became therst Egyp an, which was neither king nor idol, toleave his name in known world history; he is the

rst starchitect who produced the rst knownreal iconic building, which is perhaps also, dueto its maintenance through history, the mosticonic of all.

The main characters in this story are the pyramidthat represents the iconic building, Djoser, thebuilding owner representa ve of the state, ofpower, and the architect Imhotep, the designer.But an invisible character has not been men o-ned: the society since Djoser ordered Imhotep

built the pyramid to impress his subjects and theneighboring na ons, before and a er his death.

Lets Start by explain what characterizes theiconic buildings

2. Iconic buildings Specicities

very iconic building is represented by a set ofcriteria that are somehow their common pointscommon with all other types of buildings namely,the need for an architect, a client and a society.But to access the status of icon, a building mustbe dis nguished through the following threespeci ci es :

a concept Materializing iconicityIntegra on or lack of integra on in itsenvironment.the meaning and singni cance .

Lets explain :

a. The concept :

In the case of iconic buildings, thearchitect is asked to invent a new conceptthat will represent the new image of the cityor society for which it will be produced. Alldesign choices are based on a theore cal basis,expressed or suggested, and harmonizes with anideology that mo vates its main purposes. Thedesign here is essen ally related to intellectualabili es whose purpose is to generate ideas andchoices to set op ons of materializa on beforetaking ac on.

Highlight the features of the ideologies guidingthe produc on of space is essen al due to theabundance of the apprehension processes of thearchitectural and urban reality. The reac ons of

each other to the essen al values of Man, hishistory, culture, or toward nature, modernity,progress, the urban fact, architecture, or societyitself, leads to re ec on modes that in its turnleads to di erent answers toward the sameques oning and the challenging reality.

Western thought currents in architectureand urban planning gave birth to two typesof compe ng visions, progressive vision andculturalist vision..

Progressivism is an ideology of progress,of the renewed man with the fresh spirit, whichwants to rewrite everything again from scratch,forge ng the past and what made it what it is(tabula rasa). It boasts the principles of modernity,which promotes urban and architectural modelsnot concerned with past and history. The AthensCharter wrote under the care of Corbusier at therst Interna onal Congress of Modern Architects(CIAM) in , xed the urban objec ves ofthis architectural style. The k eys to this planningare: live, work, circula on and recreate, witha zoning separa ng these func ons. Cri csdescribe progressivism as the belief in progresswithout cri cism or sense of tolerance, with thedogma c convic on of possessing the truth andto be installed in the Blameless 1

Culturalism is when to him, inspired byan ideology of culture where the architectural

1Pierre-Andr TAGUIEFF, cit dans Wikipdia, Rac on(poli que). Adresse internet : h p://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C %A ac on_(poli que)#cite_ref-
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Andr%C3%A9_Taguieffhttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Andr%C3%A9_Taguieff


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Fig 8 Guggenheim museum, Bilbao, Spain. Gehry.

Fig 7 The Walt Disnep Concert Hall, Los Angeles, USA. Gehry.

Fig 9 Experience music project, seattel, USA. Gehry.


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and urban produc on cannot be done withoutconsidera on of the cultural context. It is callingfor a community life in the polar ci es thatpreserve and develop their cultural iden ty andseals, as a cultural unit that has to sa sfy morethan the existen al aspira ons of its people;their spiritual needs, and where buildings mustremain di erent, as are men, and demonizingglobaliza on and modernity that tend to producehuman and universal architecture. Culturalistvision gives greater importance to the history,culture and built tradi ons. The architecturalregionalism for example, which can be relatedto a culturalist view of the architecture, it is astyle that draws its inspira on from the forms ofregional vernacular architecture, without takingpart, consciously, to the universal. According

to cri cs, culturalists are called reac onistsadvoca ng a return to order, authority,restora on of values [...], or the worship ofheritages and iden es 1 .

However this ranking progressive /culturalist is a simplis c and outdated layout,containing only the two extreme and opposedversions, which rarely exist today in a pure statewhere both are doomed. From another pointof view, even modernism can be de nitely

considered in the West as a natural evolu onof the society since the Renaissance; therefore,the expression of a culture that has lost wileevolving or deliberately changed its essen alvalues without external in uences.

Today we speak increasingly, aboutglobalocales cultures shared by all humanitysinterconnected cultures, upda ng together ina global context where technological advancesbelongs to all humanity, but also in iden ty,social, geographic and climate Context dis nctto each region.

The interest in studying the conceptualapproach of the architect toward architecture isnot pu ng labels on the back of architects, butwhether, witch one of these approaches shouldbe adopted as a principle in the design, in orderfor the building to gain iconic acceptance by so-ciety. An iconic building is supposed to be a short-cut to the graphic iden ty of the city and the

1Daniel LINDENBERG, cit dans Wikipdia, Rac on (poli-que). Adresse internet : h p://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C %A ac on_(poli que)#cite_ref-

society for which it is built. It must undeniablybe inspired by the local culture and what de nesit, but at the same me respec ng contempo-rary temporal context in the West would be theequivalent of using the architectural language ofthe monuments already accepted by a speci csociety and therefore take a shortcut to accep-tance and favorable recep on of the buildingthrough the common subconscious of society.But this formal approach to culture is incompleteand can lead to pas che, as the exterior of thebuilding is as we have said, the result of a logicdesign which was based from the beginning onessen al and substan al elements of each civili-za on that need to be known before star ng theproject.

Aesthe cally speaking, the balancebetween progressivism and Culturalism in ico-nic buildings is perhaps one of the few ways thatcan de ne a real di erence and sit real contex-tualiza on of iconic buildings, given their Mon-dialist character. Gehrys Guggenheim Museum,for example, could have been built anywherein the world, because it has no speci c culturalreference, except for the globalized Westernculture, the proof is the Los Angeles Walt DisneyConcert Hall which is a very similar copy of the

Bilbao museum. Gehry has also tended judgingby his works, to repeat himself from Bilbao.

b. Materializa on of the concept

The success of the iconic architecturerelies heavily on the concept of innova on.But un l a few decades ago, technologicaldevelopment was far from following theexpansion of the imagina on of designers.Perhaps the best proof of this in the history ofcontemporary architecture is the Sydney OperaHouse, designed by Danish architect Jrn UTZON,whose design was ahead of its me. MarekKrawczyski UTZONs collaborator in this projectin a admi ed TEDx conference that the form ofthe dra , sailboat for some, for others shell wasso complicated and unusual that it has provedextremely di cult to materialize. This explainsthat its construc on took years, from to and has been marked by the departureof UTZON in following a dispute with its

Marek KRAWCZYNSKI, confrence TEDx. Site web : tedx.com


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Fig 10 Bordj Khalifa world tallest tower located in Dubai, which shows that the technology has pushed the boundaries of the possible


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Fig 12

Plan and section on the siteof the new museum of the

Acropolis in Athens

Fig 11

This photography shows thesensitivity of the site of the new

Athens museum


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to coexist with what there was previously, but toits disadvantage 1. The construction of the museum started,despite strong reactions concerning its volumeconsidered too massive for such a sensitiveurban context. It is authorized thinks to themode of construction on stilts that has keptvisible majority of the archaeological remainsdiscovered during the excavation, and becausethe new building, surrounded by buildings thatline the street Aeropagitou is not visible from thepublic highway. According to the report of theCentral Council of Archaeology: The question ofthe relationship between the museum and therock of the Acropolis has been resolved and it isestimated that the museum is not visible fromthe street Aeropagitou, and therefore does not

penalize monuments and buildings classified asto be conserved on both sides of the street . A er comple on of construc on, wequickly realized that the two buildings, na onalmonuments, which had served to allay fears,prevented the new museum to unveil to thegeneral public, and interposed between thevisibility between the sacred rock and themuseum. This is how the decision was madeto demolish them; this decision that have beencontested at na onal and interna onal level.

We spoke then about Tschumis architecturaltsunami e ect.In the design stage, the big challenge was toadapt the project to the site. It was reproachedits gigan sm and monumentality. The adapta onwas done in extremis through two buildings thatserved as visual barrier and the project wasapproved. But as soon as the museum was built,and won his fame, it was now about adap ngthe site to the building .

This single example is su cient to explainthe problems that can result from the issue ofthe integra on of iconic buildings in their sites.How to integrate or how not to integrate? Thisis the ques on. But integrated or not, a buildingbecomes iconic only society chooses to accord itthis status.

1Nikos VATOPOULOS quoted in the research of Maria GRA-VARI-BARBAS, colloque Tourismes et Territoire , orga-nised by l Ins tut de Recherche du Val de Sane Mcon -nais , - september . Translated into english by us.

d. The signi cance

Iconic buildings are receptacles of valuesand signi cances that society decided to dropinto it, a newborn iconic building in anurban landscape may at rst mean nothing toits society, especially if it is not drawn directlyfrom its construc on mode or its culture. Butover me, it earns its status and iden ty, andconnec ons begin to develop between it andits users. It ends either by becoming an integralpart of spa al prac ces, or being rejected. Theme factor is crucial to determine whether abuilding is a success or a failure.

The importance of some historicalmonuments comes from their rela onship

with the society, a rela onship that some mespersists even a er these buildings have lost theirfunc ons, their signi cance or even a er theirdestruc on. The best contemporary exampleand most signi cant, of the iconic buildingsa erlife may be, according to Charles JENCKS,the twin towers of the World Trade Center inNew York, destroyed on September . Theproject supposed to emerge on their old siteGround Zero, will instantly become an icon,inheri ng the symbolic value that the two

buildings acquired a er they were destroyed.How many self-proclaimed iconic buildings canproduce a similar e ect of strong a achmenttoward society? Probably very li le, but thefunc on and symbolic value play an importantrole in this phenomena.

An iconic building designed by starchitect,which is supposed to host the headquartersof a mul na onal is undoubtedly subject tobecome a strong urban landmark. But it is rarefor it to have any in mate rela onship with itssociety, because its func on doesnt concernsor concerns only a limited part of its society.Unlike a building whose use is public, accessibleto everyone as a library, a cultural center, or agym. This kind of building is much more likelyto access the status of a formal symbol of aniden ty.


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be er integrate into the global economy, toengage in tourism or to consolidate their place

among interna onal touris c des na ons.These considera ons are closely related to issuesof territorial iden ty. The call for a media zedarchitect was operated by local o cials aswell as the launch of major fes ve event, orenhancement of heritage, architecture playsa major role in the construc on or renewal oflocal iden es.More than other func ons, public buildingswith a cultural voca on such as museums, havefocused these trends over the last decade, butthese iconic buildings o en take place in anexis ng urban and societal context with, oragainst which they must deal.

Indeed, if the Guggenheim of Bilbaowas built in a large abandoned industrial area,completely rewri en it goes di erentlyfor most iconic buildings that must t in aninhabited urban district. The impressive prismsof the Denver art museum by architect DanielLIBESKIND stand out so prominently by theirshapes and their volume from the urbanlandscape around them. The Kunsthaus by PeterCOOK and Colin Fournier, Graz, with its radically

di erent form from those of the surroundingbuildings, according to its designers, is an alien

landed in this nice small Austrian town, etc...In some cases, the construc on of an iconicbuilding can give coherence to exis ng urbanfabric, trauma sed with past urban hazardousopera ons; it is for example the case of theBullring shopping center in Birmingham, whichhelped the restructuring and retraining of thedistrict of the same name. But it can o enundermine secular urban forms that lose theirformal symbolic value.

The study of iconic buildings and theirin uence on the environment requires a look inthe role of each ac ve force in the process thatgenerates them.

4. The active forces in the materialisation iconic buildings

There are three driving forces in theprocess of materializa on of the iconic buildings:the client, the architect, and society. Theseplayers are the same for all the other buildings,yet here their characters are di erent.

Fig 15 Kunsthaus. Peter COOK and Colin FOURNIER, Graz Austria


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Lets explain :

a. the client

He is the holder of a power that hewants to materialize through the design of thearchitect. The architectural historian CharlesJENCKS states that un l the nineteenth century,the rela onship between architects and clientsin the West was clear ; the customer has thepower to guide the design of the architector even impose his percep ons and sense oficonography, which was in most of the meshared by both.The best example of this may be that un l theRenaissance, most of the architectural work waslinked not to their designers, but to their awners.LThe proof is that the architects of most of thecathedrals of the Middle Ages are unknown 1,while the kings who have ordered theirconstruc on are easily iden able. But thingsbegan to change because of the changes broughtby the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolu on, the

1Tradi onal art oeuvres stayed generally anonymous, un lnowadays where the modern individualism caused the at-tempts to a ribute it to the few names in history, and thesea ribu ons are o en very hypothe cal.

two world wars, coloniza on, globaliza on, etc...These changes have led to the mul plica on

of symbolic spa al models and change, oreven elimina on, of values and tradi ons thatonce served as guides for society in all areasincluding architectural and urban. Therefore,the uncertain client focused only in obtainingan architectural symbol, abandoned more spotto the architect, sole holder of knowledge andscholarly architecture, to conceive it. JENCKSstates that the Bilbao e ect completed the task,ci ng the case of Walt Disney Concert Hall inLos Angeles (WDCH) , whose construc on wasstopped due to the extravagance of the Gehrydesign, and has con nued a er the success ofthe Guggenheim Bilbao, where Gehry resumed

The Disney Concert Hall by Gehry was stopped, desig-ned in , it wasnt going to go ahead l Bilbao(...)TheBilbao E ect had an e ect on (Gehry), I mean he couldbuild (the WDCH)! Now everybody wants one, and thatsdriving architecture. Its a real double-edged sword, as Iwas saying last night. Youre in a double bind(...)you know,astonish me, excite me, show me something. Wow! Thatsnever been done before! And make it cheap, e cient func onal, da-duh-da-duh-da, and make it t in . JENCKSCharles, Interview with John Jourden .http://archinect.com/features/article/ /charles- jencks-being-iconic

Fig 16 Denver art museum. LIBESKIND , USA.
http://archinect.com/people/cover/2000557/john-jourdenhttp://archinect.com/features/article/29809/charles-jencks-being-iconichttp://archinect.com/features/article/29809/charles-jencks-being-iconichttp://archinect.com/features/article/29809/charles-jencks-being-iconichttp://archinect.com/features/article/29809/charles-jencks-being-iconichttp://archinect.com/people/cover/2000557/john-jourden


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much of its original design from the WDCH. Butfor JENCKS, the client and the architect shouldtake responsibility together to face societysexpecta ons.

b. The architecte

The normal role of an architect is todesign and materialize the desires of the clientin the context of determined society andgeography. Projects of symbolic importancehave always aroused the interest of architects,but have consistently been conferred to the elitebecause of their competence and exper se, butalso because of their names and signatures aresupposed to bring glory and media sa on totheir works.

Therefore, we can dis nguish among architects,two broad categories: stars, and others. Theirwork is not so di erent. However stars arethose who realize the great iconic, public andprivate projects and par cipate in prodigiousinterna onal compe ons, while la er havelower scale projects and a weaker rela onshipwith governments and private corpora ons andclients, and therefore fewer resources. as saiearchitecture cri c Franois CHASLIN :The epoch, magazines, the media system ingeneral, and even the most modest architects(what whatever they pretend and whatevertheir frustrated exaspera on), are primarilyconcerned with a thin cohort of stars, thosewho for a reason or another, were able to focusa clearly iden able part of the architecturalre ec on of the moment 1.These stars of contemporary architecture, whichwe call here starchitects are the contemporaryequivalent of the architects of the Renaissanceand An quity as VITRUVIUS, Palladio orMICHELANGELO, with a reputa on that makesthem iconic gures for their respec ve socie es,and gives them above a power, accentuatedby their role in the social organiza on andthe crea on of built iden ty of ci es andna ons. Most of their projects are huge urbanopera ons of great importance; contemporaryurban monuments, museums, theaters, publicbuildings, o ces of major corpora ons and

1CHASLIN Franois, quoted in LArchitecturedAujourdhui , n , December, . P: . Translatedinto english by us.

some wealthy homes that allow them someexperimenta on, as it was for early modernarchitects, Le Corbusier and company.Others share small public compe ons andprivate commands the cultural and economicelite. They ght on the same territory withstarchitects, but with less power and freedombecause of the media za on, some mes withless talent also. They are struggling to nd theirplace when they fail to become interna onalstarchitects, or even local, they almost all runbehind this same dream. Finally they are forcedeither to comply with the formal requirementsof commands, forge ng their convic ons,or to imitate the starchitects, or at least theimage of their architecture. The architectureof starchitects is o en rejected by the neophyte

popula on. It is every me an extreme exampleof the idea that architects are expensive and fantasist, and yet they are the reference and themajority of other architects, by following theirmodel, move away a li le more from popularaspira ons, which are a reality that the architectshould normally take into account whenconceiving if he wants to have a real impact and

ful ll his role in society .

The life me work of an architect, star

or not, is an anecdotal given the vastness ofarchitectural produc on. However, becauseof the contemporary phenomena of formalpas che, were starchitects are being imitatedwe observe their model spreading by the handsof other architects, it starts well before becomingan architect in architecture schools, as said byPhilippe Tre ack in his book Should we hangarchitects? : What is taught, it is the ideology of the geniusor nothing.[...] Naturally, all students dreamof becoming one day a LE CORBUSIER , LouisKAHN and since few years, a Frank O. Gehry,Rem KOOLHAAS or a Toyo ITO. You cannotblame school for giving ambition to studentsthat it forms; this megalomaniac hypertrophyhas excellent aspects: outstanding efforts andcreative lyricism. But the flip side is blinding:defiance of public opinion, inability to engagea dialogue and communicate, to act otherwisethan an artist cleared of any social obligations,

Pierre COMBARNOUS, Architecture etaltermondialisation , di on lHarma an, . P :muta s mutandis. Translated into english by us.


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promoting architectural objects, of the sculpturalarchitecture 1.

Therefore the Western architect is taughtto respond to Western preoccupa ons thatcan be summarized today in the formal image,and not to worry about cultural di erenceswhile conceiving. And this accentuate more thecleavage between him and society .

c. A society or a community?

Society is the raison dtre of architecturein general, and iconic architecture in par cular.It is the catalyst and the judge who acceptsor rejects it but never ignores it. However,the rela onship between a society and its

architecture is a rela onship of con nuousinterac on, because the architecture is alsoinvolved in the de ni on of the society thatcreated it.

Despite the fact that iconicity andbanality are two contradictory concepts, theyboth result from the regard that a society, ata de ned moment, has in its architecturallandscape that is built to poli cal, economicand cultural objec ves constantly renego ated

between the di erent actors involved in thisprocess.

The banal just as the iconic are con nuallychanging with the changing in societys values.For example, Nazi monuments that survivedto the Second World War were all destroyed,because they contrasted with the new ideologiesand values of the a er war Germany. Their imagehas become representa ve of an unwanted past,while a few decades ago; it was the promise of abe er future for the Germans. This also applies,in another level, in the case of certain GAUDIsworks, such as Casa Mila, which was nicknamed

La Pedrera literally the career as a sign ofugliness or at least of unusual appearance. Hisowner refused even, at rst, to pay the architect.Yet today, the image of this iconic buildinghas changed. It has become a popular touristdes na on and a sign of dis nc on of the formaliden ty of the city of Barcelona and all Catalanregion in Spanish society.

1Philippe TRETIACK, Faut-il pendre les architectes ? Seuil, Paris. . P : . Translated into english by us.

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consequences. Moreover History tells us thatthese ci es built by Alexander served points ofdi usion of Hellenis c culture.

Architecture, urbanism and their tech-nics, are a legacy accumulated and passed downfrom civiliza on to civiliza on, each of them ac-cept this heritage, but always try to adapt it toits needs and principles. Especially in the caseof iconic buildings that are in all civiliza ons, thepinnacle of their architectural and technical pro-gress in the service of the religious, poli cal oreconomic glory, or the combined en es, the-reby crystallizing its essen al and substan al

iden ty. These buildings, their architectural mo-dels and what they represent, have normally aunanimous acceptance in their socie es, but ithappens that this changes.

In countries formerly colonized a civiliza onalrupture occurred, in economic, cultural iden tylevels etc... This rupture has led to what canbe considered an inferiority complex , amongthe ordinary people, mostly illiterate, but alsoamong the economic and cultural westernizedelite who ques oned the system values andsocietal images in these countries, triggering anunprecedented iden ty crisis. As so aptly putsit Ibn Khaldun in his Prolegomena, assimila ngthe imita on a tude of the defeated towardthe winners doctrines in a religion of defea sm 1,liability or docility, the conquered alwaysimitates his conqueror. . The dominant culturehas become THE MODEL to follow in how to eat,talk, dress and also build. Most of those whocould a ord it have le their tradi onal habitats

1In arabic ibn khaldoun called it :

to those built in the European way, who couldnot had its image etched in themselves.

It was at that me that the civiliza onal modelslid and changed. And it is normal even a er thedeclara on of Independence of these countriesthat this inferiority complex con nues, on oneside, because of the chronic retard accumulatedin all areas, and on the other side because of theeconomic and cultural success of their formercolonizers. These former colonies like Morocco,thus nd themselves in a complex situa on,di cult to diagnose. Because architecture that issupposed to be iconic in their contexts, despiteall what it is supposed to represent, is not fromthe respec ve cultures of these countries, butfrom the western dominant civiliza on. Valued,dis nct, rich and unique Architectural model

Fig 21 The Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, in the background theEffel tower.

Fig 22 The Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. a blue-eyed Sphinks

Fig 23 La grande mosque de Cologne, en Allemagne. lune desplus grandes en europe


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do exist in these countries, nevertheless almostall the iconic large-scale projects are assignedto Western architects, or conceived in westernmodel by local architects.

We are therefore en tled to ask ourselves,what is the purpose of these projects, impressthe West or serve the people? The Third Worldsocie es are dazzled and a racted to Westernarchitectural style but this may be due to thefact that this model is the only one present inthe interna onal scene? An architectural designinspired by what composes the iden ty of a

community in all its aspects, isnt more capableto posi vely mark its users?

What is the solu on for those trying to producean iconic architecture inspired by iden y, followthe trend established despite the fact that it isthe result of an anomaly, or try to swim againstthe current, taking the risk of being called areac onary?

before answering these ques ons, it is importantfor us to rst study concrete examples of iconicbuildings.


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Synthesis

Iden ty is a complex concept as itscomponents have not been clari ed. This term,as we have seen, is in close connec on withhuman being and the de ni on he gives tohimself and the culmina on of his re ec ons onwhat he is. Since the Renaissance, Western Manbegan renouncing to his spiritual side poli callyand spa ally. The advent of modernism inarchitecture, which advocated a tabula rasacrea ng a break with the inherited tradi onsand values, had direct repercussions on theiden ty of ci es in the West. Architecture and

urban planning were reduced to the materialdimension; func on, stability, form, etc Andto quan ta ve, spa otemporal and customaryvalues, therefor variables and tangible aspectsof iden ty and values.

It is therefore not strange to note, inthis context, the limits that LYNCH and LEDRUTshowed in their analysis of the iden ty and theurban image by reducing it to its substan alaspect amputa ng its form its essen al side. It

is also true that in the modern Western context,the essen al aspect of iden ty has no moreimportance in the eyes of society, at least notunanimously. However, LEDRUT men oned thea rac on of the old center of European ci esrepresen ng an unconscious reminder of theessen al principles formerly applied and nowlost in the Western and Westernized context.Indeed, this formalis c approach to space,nowadays, tends to export to non-Westerncountries, including Morocco. One of the mainchannels of its export is the iconic building.

They have, existed in every civiliza onand held an important role in the crystalliza onof the collec ve iden ty of their communi esthrough their iden ty message and its greatsymbolic power that integrated social contextand this in all its civiliza onal aspects; cultural,economic, poli cal, etc

But in the contemporary context wheremodern culture is dominant, the Westernmodel of these buildings has become a rac vebecause of its nancial success. Thus, we see allaround the world, its adop on at the expense oflocal tradi onal models.

These new buildings are supposed tobe a way to adver se and promote their ci esin the business market and the na onal andinterna onal tourism. For these reasons, moreand more decision makers entrusted the task of

crea ng these iconic agship projects to renow-ned architects, part of the Interna onal Westernarchitectural elite, which, most of the me, isforeign to the context where will be placed theproject. This par cularly concerns us :

- If the role of contemporary iconicbuildings is the to showcase the ci eswhere they will be built, isnt it moreappropriate to base their concep onon the contextual iden ty of these

ci es ?

Since we determined the theore calrela onship between urban iden ty and iconicarchitecture and the characteris cs of both, wewill begin now, the study of living examples ofcontemporary iconic buildings.

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I. OVERVIEW OF THE PRITZKER ARCH1. Cartography of starchitects export

In the following cartography ofstarchitects export, are only considered theaward winning architects since , date ofbirth of the Pritzker Prize, and their respec veachievements. To take into account a greaternumber of global architects would certainly havechanged and enriched the map, but it wouldalso made it di cult to read.

It is clear that the majority of theawarded are American, European and Japanese,and their work is exported, and imported mainlyon these three regions. Some Gulf countries,Africa and Southeast Asia also receive this globalarchitecture, but without expor ng it. Even if wetake into account a greater number of architectsin this cartography other than the winners ofthe Pritzker Prize, these regions do not providetheir own starchitects, simply because theyare generally formed in the West or with awesternized educa on. Therefore it is di cultfor them to produce an architecture speci c to

their culture. The concept of starchitect couldnot be applied in the case of an export of thenon-Western model to the West, because of thefact that if these architects are stars, it is onlybecause the West has de ned them so.

2. Cartography analysis

All U.S starchitects export in theworld, in di erent contexts, a purely Westernacculturated architecture, whose main job isa formal and spa al re ec on for a Northerncommand most of the me, although locatedacross the globe. One of the best known guresof this architecture, Frank Gehry is the designerof the famous museum in Bilbao. It is the samefor European archistars, with some di erences,however, expressed by posi ons and di erentac on.

In southern Europe, two architectsdi er in their approaches, and therefore we areinterested in : Renzo PIANO and Alvaro SIZA.

Portuguese architect Alvaro SIZA exports himselfvery li le and mainly to Galicia and Brazil, bothregions very close culturally to Portugal, dueto geographical proximity and colonial es. Inthe work of Alvaro SIZA, there is a re ec onon the Portuguese medieval city and its mazestreets, simple volumes that compose it andthe e ect of natural light on the frame, allowinghim to develop an architecture built with thesame space research of his contemporaries, butintegra ng into the framework of its own space

culture..

Renzo PIANO has quite a unique course inthe sense that he became famous during theemergence of high-tech architecture, but wasable to get of this label to explore other paths.He exports his architecture a lot, and, un lrecently, only in a Western representa on mode.But in , he surprised the world by designingthe cultural center Jean-Marie TJIBAOU inNoumea, New Caledonia, which by its shape

and organiza on expresses an original researche ort, inspired by the site and even more byKanake culture iden ty themselves.

MURCUT Glenn, one of the last to beawarded, is as much a landscape designer asarchitect and his research on the implementa onof his architecture, o en of small-scale, respectfor the site and search for poetry show certainsensi vity to the architecture approach ofhis country. He works exclusively in Australia,a western culture country, alongside anAboriginal popula on, that like other indigenouspopula ons of the New World, rst su ered theinvasion of their territory before being shelvedby the dominant society. He is not in the lineof the Danish Jorn UTZON, also one of the lastawarded. The designer of the famous SydneyOpera House, World Heritage of Humanity byUnesco and considered one of the most famousbuildings of the twen eth century, with itsglobalized architecture, and its monumental andsymbolic power. And that became the symbol of


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Sydney and one of the worlds most famoussymbols of Australia, as said by AustralianPrime Minister Kevin RUDD 1.

The adver sing impact of the SydneyOpera House resembles in many aspects to theone that has had the Guggenheim museum ofBilbao conceived by Frank GEHRY awarded in

, which also has great symbolic power andgenerated a real rush to the iconic architecturearound the world in what has been called theBilbao e ect.

Tadao Ando, awarded in is theonly one to be autodidact he stands out fromother architects with his excep onal originalityand formal purity. He is one of the iconic gures

of Japanese minimalism with its speci ci esthat he expresses with consciousness andobjec vity in rela on with his own culture. YannNUSSAUME said in describing an interviewwith Tadao Ando: His philosophy is clear, tounderstand the essence of a building, one mustknow the society in which it was built. ForTADAO Ando, postmodernism is absorbed byformal considera ons and diverted from deepconsidera ons 2.

Among various social responsibili es ofarchitects, the most important is, in my opinion,to re ect the culture, ie to use the architectureto show that each country has its own culture 3.

Rem KOOLHAAS, awarded in , isperhaps one of the few architects who havetheorized about the rela onship between manand the city, despite his sta s cal and ra onalapproach. KOOLHAAS has, moreover, manydisciples among the interna onally acclaimedarchitects such as MVRDV group and the Iraqi-Bri sh architect Zaha HADID who was the rstwoman to receive the prize in . She wasformed in London, her work focusing on ultra-formal architecture, with work on lines, cracksand bends, is like many others, the expression of

1Kevin RUDD, quoted in : Jrn UTZON, Wikipedia.Translated into english by us.h p://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C %B rn_UtzonNUSSAUME, Yann. Tadao ANDO et la ques on du

milieu . Ed. le Moniteur, , Paris. Translated intoenglish by us.Tadao ANDO, quoted in : Yann NUSSAUME. Op.cit. p. .

Translated into english by us.

an interna onal architecture, acculturated andglobalizing.

Jean NOUVEL, awarded in , isone of those who advocate more rela onshipbetween architecture and culture, but most ofhis achievements are s ll expressing a ashyformal architectural spirit .

Star ng in , the climate of the globaleconomic crisis and resul ng world changes s rup re ec ons about the role that should playarchitects in this conjuncture. The PRITZKER Prize starts to encourage contextualizedarchitecture, as opposed to extravagant formalexperiences of previous winners. In theprize was awarded to Peter ZUMTHOR the

following year the duo Kazuyo SEJIMA and RyueNISHIZAWA, and in Souto De MOURA, allthree minimalist and contextualist architects .
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B8rn_Utzonhttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B8rn_Utzon


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Fig 25 Zaha HADID

Fig 26 Grand thatre de Rabat,Morocco

Fig 27 : Jean NOUVELFig 28Torre Agbar, Barcelona. its

shape was very criticizedbecause of its greatresemblance to the SwissRe Building in London byNorman Foster.

Fig 29 Tadao ANDO

Fig 30 Suntory Museum, OsakaJapan. one of the mostexpressive buildings of

ANDO.

Fig


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II. Case Study: Among the architects men oned above, we chose to talk about three of them, who have rea-lized three projects considered landmarks regarding our problema c, three cultural iconic projects thata ained the status of urban or na onal icon :

Sydney Opera House by Jrn UTZON, Australia.The Guggenheim Museum by Frank Gehry in Bilbao, Spain.The Jean Marie TJIBAOU cultural center by Renzo Piano in Noumea, New Caledonia.

g 31 :Jorn UTZON Fig 32 :Frank Gehry Fig 33 :Renzo Piano

Fig 34 :Sydney OperaHouse

Fig 35 :Guggenheim museum Fig 36 :the Jean-Marie Tjibaou culturalCenter


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1. UTZON and the Sydney Opera House We discussed in the rst part about starchitects. This global elite which is called, normally inexcep onal to conceive excep onal iconic commands, and whose names and signatures are supposedto bring renowned and media sa on to the projects. But in the case of the Sydney Opera House anexcep on in the rule occurred by designa ng as the winner an unknown architect, Jrn UTZON, to buildwhat will become one of the most famous buildings of the twen eth century.

A unique architect :

Son of a naval architect and nephewof a famous sculptor, Jrn Oberg UTZON wasborn in April , in Copenhagen. Young, heshowed a talent for drawing and began workingwith his father at the age of , before studying

architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Artsin Copenhagen, with teachers as Kay FISKER andhumanist Steen Eiler Rasmussen, both knownfor their theore cal wri ngs. A er gradua onin , he moved with his family to Stockholm,as Sweden was one of the few neutral countriesduring World War II, before leaving for Finlandwhere he had the opportunity to work for afew years with Alvar Aalto, one of his threegreat spiritual masters, with Gunnar ASPLUNDSwedish architect interna onally renowned and

Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom he discoversorganicist theories, which will mark his sensibilityto natural forms.

A er the war, he returned with his familyto Denmark, where he opened his own studioand began traveling. At that me, his world isenriched by a nity and unusual interest for hisgenera ons architects: the architecture of Japanand ancient China, its monuments and trea es.The ancient Mesoamerican Mexico, where hediscovered pre-Columbian architecture and itsmonumental image that will inspire him later. Inthe United States, he is interested in the severalfacets of Wright and his American house, theGuggenheim Museum in New York and ar s cprotest movements like the Cobra group. In

, he worked for a few months in Moroccowhere he experienced Islamic art which will havea decisive in uence on his work. He uses thisculture of observa on for his early Scandinavianprojects, few but various at the me, fromchurchs to urban plans. His rst projects areoriginal and remarked.

With his own home in Hellebaekhe introduced the free plan in the Danishdomes c architecture. The two villages he builtthen (in Helsingor in and Fredensborg,

), are intended to be an alterna ve to

lo ssements that proliferate around Danishci es. By reinterpre ng an old model - the pa ohouse - he comes with several types that hedistributes following the topography, UTZONachieves a perfect balance between con ic ngrequirements: the private home and the senseof community, aspira on interior comfort andthe desire for shared public spaces, exibilityof u liza on and architectural coherence, thea rma on of human interven on and respectfor the site.

But his undisputed masterpiece is theOpera House in Sydney that has become theicon of the city and one of the worlds mostfamous symbols of Australia, in the words ofAustralian Prime Minister Kevin RUDD. Amonghis accomplishments also included a churchin Bagsvaerd, a suburb of Copenhagen, twohouses on the island of Majorca and the colossalParliament of Kuwait in the early s.

In , his children Jan and Kim beginto work with him. And since Jrn UTZON retired,they continue the activity of the agency UTZONArchitects. They were, moreover, responsiblefor monitoring the development and restorationof the Sydney Opera House, in particular theinternal design. The opera was classified WorldHeritage Site in .

Like his meteoric career, the unclassi ablenature of his architecture may explain thatUTZON remained misunderstood. The radicalar st fed with tradi on, the humanist and


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utopian, who wanted to work beyond thepossible traversed through the landscapeof European post-modernism like a luminousenigma.

UTZON receives in the Pritzker Prizefor his life me achievement. He died at the age

of on November , in Copenhagen.The Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is a primeexample of contemporary iconic building.Indeed, it is considered one of the most famousand most visited monuments of the twen ethcentury. But paradoxically, it is also one of themost overlooked. Its name evokes unparalleledforms, hulls, sails, opalescent peaks in theextraordinary landscape that is Sydney Harbor,one of the most beau ful in the world. It hasbecome the emblem of a city and country.

The project for an opera in Sydney wasborn in the late s. It is carried by EugeneGoossens, director of the Conservatory ofMusic of the State of New South Wales with thesupport of the Prime Minister Joseph Cahill, whocommissioned a study.

Bennelong Point, a peninsula in the Bayof Sydney, was chosen among possible sites.And it was in , during the highly media zed

Melbourne Olympics that the compe on waslaunched for the construc on of an opera. candidates represen ng countries send theirproject. The originality, or error made in thecompe on, was that candidates werent askedto draw a construc ble project, but only a stylestudy. The judgment was therefore based on

purely formal criteria, the most remarkable andmost striking proposal would win.

In , UTZON won the interna onalcompe on for the new the Sydney Opera House.a big surprise because, the thirty eight years oldarchitect, it is barely known. Indeed, he doesnot t in the pro le of starchitects that normallyare assigned to such megaprojects, even if hegained some fame in Denmark and Sweden bywinning several architectural consulta ons andurban planning, which did not result. But the jury was categorical, they chose UTZON and hisproject because given the design of the project,we believe that this opera will become one of thegreat architectural works of the world . 1

Architectural concept

Without visi ng Sydney, UTZON givesthe landscape of the city and the compe on

1La dclara on du jury Cit dans le site Australie-Aus-tralie. Adresse internet : h p://www.australia-australie.com/opera-de-sydney/

Fig 38 The Sydney morning herald, the rst and second prizewinning projects, it described the project Utzon ascontroversial

Fig 37 Location of the city of Sydney, Australia
http://www.australia-australie.com/opera-de-sydney/http://www.australia-australie.com/opera-de-sydney/http://www.australia-australie.com/opera-de-sydney/http://www.australia-australie.com/opera-de-sydney/


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program an audacious response slicing with theproposals of the other compe tors. He wants tobuild on the promontory of Bennelong, whiteshells that covers like sails, two concert hallscontained in a monumental stone base, inspiredby the pla orms of pre-Columbian architecture.The concept of UTZON came in one hand from

the condi ons of the contest and the specialcontext of the country and city that launchedit, and on the other hand from his personalarchitectural experience.

Australia, the smallest con nent andthe largest island in the world, is the latest newland discovered and colonized by Europeans. Itis described as the far end of the world becauseof the distance that separates it from Europe( , km). The rst se lements were penalcolonies. Its indigenous popula on like in theAmerican con nent was par ally murderedand robbed before being excluded from thepoli cal and administra ve machinery. itssociety is, therefore, exclusively composed ofthe descendants of European se lers, but alsoof immigrants from Asian origins. A young andcosmopolitan society that lacked elements thatsymbolize its unity na onally and interna onally.

At the me of the establishment of theAustralian federa on, two ci es were compe ngto become capital, Sydney and Melbourne. The

issue was resolved by building from scratchCanberra. But the two rival ci es con nued tochallenge. When, Sydney Harbor Bridge wasbuilt, the widest and highest arch bridge in theworld, Melbourne hosts the Olympic Gamesin . The same year Sydney launched thecontest of the Sydney Opera House .

In fact the contes

urban identity and iconic buildings

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